The Death
by Queen Of Gabb 488
Summary: Sequel to The Dead- Discovering the shocking secret of her family line, Elena put trust in her new found family to once and for all separate her destiny from the original hybrid only to find that her trust may once again have been misplaced. Trapped in an odd predicament, the doppelganger will come to realize there are far worse family secrets and that some ties cannot be unbound.
1. Chapter 1

All eight doppelgangers lay motionless on the floor, faces pale and skin chilled. In the center of the circle stood Ilya, chanting as she continued to evoke the Goddess.

Stefan, Damon and Caroline tried with all their might, but for all of their supernatural abilities the three vampires could not breech the circle.

Lydia continued to channel Bonnie as she heard Caroline's persistent tears, Damon's threat, and Stefan's rushed attempts to find anything that could breech their magic. The witch sighed internally, feeling sorry for them because they had no idea what was happening and continued to follow the plan.

They would know soon enough.

* * *

Elena stirred soon enough only to find herself on the Wickery Bridge. Tears immediately came to her eyes as she was forced to relive the most horrible moments of her existence. Her parents had died here. _She_ had died here.

What had brought her here, she wondered as she stared into the water below. Transfixed there, Elena could have lost herself in her thoughts if she hadn't heard the familiar sound of her own laugh. Turning from the bridge, she caught sight of Sofiyah and took off after her young doppelganger. Crossing the threshold of the bridge, Elena once again found herself transported.

Standing in the foyer of her house, the vampire heard something she thought had been taken from her forever; her parents laughter. Stepping forward, the brunette didn't know what to expect. Would they be able to see her; to hold her? How would they react to seeing a stranger standing in the middle of their living room. Peering around the door frame, Elena rested her head as she saw her mother and father tickling her and Jeremy on the couch. It was her sixth birthday, which made her younger brother only three and a half years old.

A smile transformed her entire face from stoic to content. This memory was so far buried in her mind that it had been lost to her for years. Being turned, Elena knew she could call up every single memory of her life but she was still new and these moments - both the pleasant and the painful- were too fresh and felt like pouring salt in all of the wounds she had thought had healed since Greyson's and Miranda's deaths. Now faced with such a close encounter, Elena felt her heart bursting with joy and knew that she had been wrong.

The only question that remained rolled off her lips before she realized they were even a thought in her head; "Why am I here?"


	2. Chapter 2

Klaus was cursing under his breath as he looked around his cell. Looking at the symbols, he knew this couldn't be the work of the Bennett witch as he had initially thought. Cracking his neck, he wracked his brain to see if any of the witches he knew were capable of this kind of magic. It was from the old world, of that he was sure but Klaus hadn't seen this kind of magic worked since his days as a human. Even the original witch wasn't capable of this kind of magic and then it hit him; fear making an appearance on his face for the first time in centuries.

Only one woman he had ever met had possessed that kind of power; Tatia had been dead for ten centuries.

* * *

Anger ran through his entire being, not limited to his physical body as his mind, heart and soul raged with the frustration of losing his hold over Qetsiyah's descendant.

Silas had plans for the Bennett line, as well as for the cure. Before this stunt he had been willing to end his pitiful existence to join Emiliyah in the afterlife. Immortality wasn't a gift when you were forced to live every second of every day for millenniums without your heart and she had taken his with hers when Qetsiyah had murdered her. All he needed the witch for was to bring down the veil. Bonnie was the only one on this earth with the ability to learn how to do that, yet she had found away to keep him out.

Caroline had been easy to sway and when need be he had appeared to Bonnie's other friends to keep tabs on her. Silas knew that if he was unable to contact any of them it was for one reason. They were with Elena Gilbert. His great-great-great something granddaughter. One of the two people he was bound by sacred vow never to hurt. The only thing going for him was the fact that the hybrids curse denied them of their heritage and neither Elena or Katerina possessed magic; if they did his plans would never come to fruition. Plans that had now changed.

Silas was not going to kill himself. It wasn't going to be that simple or satisfying an answer for his opponents.

* * *

Lying on the dirt ground in the Salvatore cellar, Elijah was perfectly still; the dagger still embedded in his heart, the organ responsible for every betrayal and hurt inflicted upon him during his life. Fitting, wasn't it, that it rested in perfect stillness for an entirely different reason than vampires lacking a heartbeat.

As the dagger slowly lifted from his chest, guided by some seemingly invisible force, Elijah should have rejoined the world in a waking state. Yet the original didn't rise from his slumber. Elijah clung to the darkness of his subconscious, unwilling to resume a life that had caused him more heartache than joy. If clinging to death was the furthest he could hope to get from Katerina, he would cling to it for an eternity.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: **here's the latest chapter...also, look out for my new fanfic "Heritage"; an awesome story combining the Charmed Universe with the Vampire Diaries.

* * *

"Why am I here?"

"That might take a while," her mother's voice sounded from behind her.

Caught off guard, Elena turned quickly to see Isobel. Taking in her surroundings, she saw that they were no longer in her house but the Caves where the Originals used to hide in during the full moon.

"How are here? Vampires aren't able to come down here," she pointed out.

"Well, you're not a vampire," Isobel smiled sadly. "Not at the moment."

"What do you mean? What's happening?"

Isobel stepped forward and took Elena's hand. "You're dead, Elena," she broke the news softly.

"I know that but-" Elena kept looking around as she tried to figure out what the hell was going on.

"-No, Elena. I don't mean undead. You're moving on," Isobel told her.

* * *

Klaus cursed as he realized that whoever grabbed him must have taken his phone off his body. Even if his witches could find a way to reverse this current predicament there was no way to reach them. "Damn it," he yelled and punched his hand through the door. Even if he managed to tear down the structure he was bound to the space inside; left to rot until someone saw fit to let him go.

* * *

Caroline ran for the door when it slammed in her face. Damon and Stefan had been subdued moments earlier when Lydia had spelled them into a slumber as she had Bonnie hours earlier.

"I'm sorry, Caroline. But I can't allow you to ruin everything we've worked for," Lydia said. "It ends tonight._ It all ends tonight._"

* * *

Tears fell before Elena even processed what she had been told. "_Why_?"

"It takes a lot of magic to resurrect a life," her birth mother told her. "The magic that the Petrovas cast was strong but it has to call on the very thing it is trying to achieve; a life force."

"And there were only three of us," Elena recalled. "Me, Katherine and Amelia to call up the rest of our doppelgangers. But to do _what_," she cried. "I thought we were ending the curse on our family; to end Klaus's ability to hurt us. Why would Katherine help Lydia do this to us?"

"Because there is more that has to be done," she warned her daughter. "There's more to our curse than just Klaus."

"What do you mean," her eyes bore into the other woman's and suddenly Elena was alone on Wickery Bridge. "Isobel! Isobel," she screamed and turned to catch sight of the other woman when she saw someone else; a woman who wore her face.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: **I like to go with the flow and write as the story comes to me. Sometimes, because of this, while I might know my basic concept of where I want the story to end up, I don't know what is going to happen along the way. As explored in the previous chapters of this story, the lesson Elena needs to learn has to do with** WHY. **Just like this chapter, I think the next couple of chapters will be longer as we learn the rest of the Petrova family secrets.**  
**

* * *

Elena raced across the bridge following the image of herself. This was the second doppelganger she had come across since being here; wherever here was. Isobel had told her that she was dead and moving on but hadn't given her any clues to where she was or where she would be going. So many questions but the only one that seemed to stick in her mind was why.

Why was she here? _Because I'm moving on,_ she thought. _Why am I moving on?_ Because I'm dead, she answered. _Why am I dead?_ Because a life force must be used to call a life force. Katherine, Amelia and I are the only living doppelgangers and our life forces were needed to call up the others. Elena thought about that for a minute as she continued to give chase.

She could understand moving on if her life force had been sacrificed. That was why she was here and she imagined so were Amelia and Katherine, but why had she seen Sofiyah?Stopping, Elena looked each way to see if she could spy the mysterious woman who had seemed to disappear in thin air. _The question isn't 'Why am I here', _Elena realized. "Why are _we_ here," rushed from her lips and suddenly the woman was in front of her.

Elena stepped forward slowly, hesitating as she approached her mirror image. "Do you know? Do you know why we're all here? Where the others are?"

Barefoot, the other girl took a step forward and opened her arms; the place instantly transforming from heavy woods into the cave. Elena stepped forward, relieved that she couldn't be seen. Before her, she saw Esther leading whom she presumed to be Tatia into the cave.

_"What cause have you to summon me," the young witch asked. Tatia was both beautiful and powerful due to her ancestry; a descendant of the warlock Silas and Emiliyah, and as such was the strongest witch Esther had ever come across; stronger even then Ayana. Positioning herself behind the young girl, Esther toyed with the herbs and spices she left on her work space. _

_"My sons have grown very fond of you, Tatia."_

_"And I them," Tatia turned to face the other woman. "Elijah and Klaus have both earned a place in my heart. You must know this," she implored. _

_Esther nodded. "I do. But more than the fondness you feel for them, love for you has overtaken both their hearts." _

_Tatia inhaled a slow breath, her eyes betraying every emotion she held as she was confronted by the one thing she had feared; choice. Tatia had never meant to encourage the Mikaelson brothers. As an unwed mother Tatia had resigned herself to living on the outskirts of the village with her child and sister. Her parents had been killed two years earlier during an attack from a nearby village. Tatia had been able to hide Charlotte from the intruders but had not escaped unscathed; the attack had lead to her pregnancy and while most villagers were understanding there were those who held her in contempt for raising the child instead of handing her over to a family. _

_"You do not need tell me of your feelings or even of your intentions, Tatia. As their parents, only Mikael and I choose their fate. The question of their destiny has been especially important since the loss of Henrik," Esther told the young girl._

_Tatia bowed her head in respect. "I was saddened to hear of your loss," she admitted. "He was always a kind young soul." _

_Esther moved around her work space; a rock formation that was raised into a a slab of granite where candles lit the cave. "Tell me, Tatia. What are your feelings for my sons?"_

_"I love them," she whispered and looked up to meet Esther's gaze. _

_Stepping forward, the original witch came within reach of Tatia when a young girl who looked like Lydia entered the cave. "Tatia!" Mikael stepped forward and grabbed the girl while Tatia turned toward the screaming, distracted by her sister while Esther plunged a dagger into her heart. A moan escaped her lips as she stared at the witch who had betrayed their covenant with nature to do no harm. _

_Esther caught her in her arms when she collapsed, removing the blade and using a wooden bowl to collect her blood and waited for Mikael to help her drain the girl. "Tell me Tatia, with your last few breaths, which of my two sons do you choose in your final moments," she tormented the girl who had slowly torn apart her sons. She leaned in to hear the girl's answer. _

Elena was suddenly alone in the cave and felt her heart breaking. She had often wondered about her ancestor, the famous beauty who had won the love of two young men who would become two of the most feared of the undead. At first Elena had thought about her family in a different light; a version of herself who had the misfortune of attracting the love of a psychopath and his equally deadly but more chivalrous elder brother. It was her story. The one she seemed to be repeating over with the Salvatore brothers. Both Petrovas had made a choice; Elena just wished she knew who Tatia had chosen.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: I'm back!****  
**

* * *

The witches looked upon the circle and the eight doppelgangers resting on the floor. Lydia walked over to Sofiyah, brushing a strand of dark brown hair behind her ear. It would all be over soon. Drawing her gaze over to Elena and Amelia, Lydia let the guilt seep in. If only she could have prepared them for the journey but like her mother had known, the two girls would not have been ready to take this move. It was unfair to ask them to make this decision just as much as it was to take it from them.

"Do you have the Bennett girls blood," Ilya asked her daughter.

"Yes," Lydia produced the vial. She had meant to ask Elena permission to draw on Bonnie's magic but Katherine had beat her to the punch, handing her the glass tube before asking was necessary.

Grandmama Sonya patted the young girl on the back and smiled sadly, knowing how her granddaughter must feel. She was glad that even though she was raised to do the same as Lydia, Sonya never had the responsibility of deceiving her friends. It was clear how much all of the doppelgangers had come to mean to her.

* * *

Elena was relieved to see she was back in the woods. The emotions from Tatia's memories had overwhelmed her and she knew on some level it was because they were the same person; the same soul.

Walking, she looked to see if she could see signs of the other doppelgangers in this purgatory and wondered if she had ever been here before. Stefan had saved her from the accident that had killed her parents but not before she had died for several moments. If this was moving on had her parents been here? Or was this place only for the supernatural?

Twigs snapped behind her and she turned toward the noise, changing her direction as she looked for her missing pieces. Sofiyah was here, she knew that. Did that mean all eight of them were here? What purpose did that serve unless something had gone wrong with the spell? More was going on than what Lydia had lead her to believe but Elena still trusted her. Plus Isobel had told her there was more to learn; more to be done to break the curse. She just had to figure it out.

* * *

Elijah fought to hold on to the shrouds of darkness that had put him into the arms of death. It wasn't permanent but then death rarely was to the original vampire. He couldn't help it though; the light was breaking through and so was the yelling. Elijah would recognize the sound of Klaus's temper tantrum anywhere.

Raising himself from the floor, he wiped the dust off his suit pants and cursed his luck that he was being held in the same area as his younger brother. He had barely had a second to vent his frustration at allowing himself to be betrayed by Katerina when his brother's psychopathic threats reached his ears. Moving to the door, he tried to reach a hand out between the bars to unlock his cell when he met an invisible barrier.

"Brother, are you awake," Klaus asked.

"It would seem so. Katerina must have had help in putting me down," Elijah spoke. "How did they manage to get you?"

"A witch came up behind me and knocked me out. I thought it must be the Bennett nuisance but there are sigils all over my cellar and my cellphone is gone. I can't even get one of my witches to come to our aid," Klaus growled.

"Sigils? The only witch I knew who was powerful enough to do so was-"

"-Tatia," Klaus interrupted. "But as we know Tatia is long dead, so what witch could possibly wield this kind of magic?"

Elijah thought about this as his gaze went to the floor. "A better question, brother; who has the power to lift a dagger out of an original with the barrier still up?"

"You were daggered? I swear when I get out of here I am going to kill every last one of them," Klaus vowed furiously.

"Focus brother. We need to figure out who is powerful enough to trap us here, and who would pull the dagger from my chest and why."

"Well," Klaus said, "Tatia's magic was very specifically used only by the Petrova witches during that time. It's possible that they taught someone else or that their grimoires were found by another witch who used the sigils to keep us here."

"Or," Elijah reasoned, "there are more Petrova witches."

"Their magic died with Tatia, brother. Her child never had the chance to learn from her," Klaus said.

"Not from her," Elijah agreed, "but during all these centuries we've forgotten about a very important person."

"And who would that be," the other asked sarcastically.

"Her sister, Charlotte." Elijah waited for a response but Klaus remained silent with bated breath.

* * *

He deliberated carefully, determined to make his next move without interference. Bonnie was still off limits to him and Silas had no way of penetrating the Salvatore Boarding house with his descendants still in attendance. That didn't mean he couldn't draw them out, or rather one person in particular. He would have to use someone else and a thought crept into his mind. There was one other person there whose blood was linked to his; whose blood did not grant him immunity from Silas's powers.

He just needed a way to get him out of the boarding house.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: I'm back!****  
**

* * *

Silas cloaked himself in shadows, hidden from view as he took in the sight of the boarding house. This was as close as he could come; the immortal didn't want to alert the Petrovas to his presence.

A powerful warlock, Silas knew how dangerous it could be to practice the craft during the last three days of the moon but it had been a long time since he had to worry about the influence of Hecate. The power he wielded challenged even she who was the Queen of all the witches. Extending his arms, he began his chant knowing that his spells could not cast him into any of their minds, but they could still effect the space around them; lead them back to him.

* * *

"It took you long enough," Katerina stood like a goddess; arms folded into one another with a sleek leg extended to the side as attitude radiated from each pore. "What took you so long, huh? Get lost," she guessed.

Elena stared at her for a moment in confusion before narrowing her eyes at her ancestor and rushing at her, knocking her back several steps as Katherine wasn't prepared for it; she often forgot the Petrova fire burned in this other version of herself.

Shoving her, Elena began yelling. "Yeah, Katherine; I got lost. Because someone gave me the wrong map," she enunciated each word with another push before finding herself turned, back to Katherine and in a head lock.

"Ah," the older woman mocked, "poor little Elena Gilbert. Always needing someone else to spell it out for her," Katherine released her and pressed a palm between Elena's shoulder blades, extending her arms and sending her into the trunk of a tree.

"Leave her be, Katerina," another doppelganger stepped forward to reveal Irena in an exquisite sixteenth century gown, her hair held back with beautiful antique combs. Gliding forward, Irena came forward and took Elena's hand gingerly while leading her away from the site.

"I am Irena. I was not much older than you when I died," she told her. "I was married to a very wealthy businessman and though we lived in Bosnia, much of his business took him to England and Wales. He used to dress me as the English ladies so that I could impress business partners. One day, while he was away, I had to travel to a neighboring village to see the apothecary. My carriage was captured by gypsies."

"Did they kill you?"

"No," Irena laughed. "I stayed with them for more than two years; traveling and doing as I pleased. Their leader became my consort and soon I had a son," she smiled and paused, thinking about him. "My husband never gave up the search for my abductors. It wouldn't do to allow them to get away with killing a nobleman's wife. When he found me with them he not only slayed my master but me as well. It was even worse to have a wife cuckold you," she explained.

Without even realizing it, Irena had lead her away from the woods and they were coming to the Bridge again. Looking up, Elena saw someone she didn't expect. With a gasp, she held her breath before muttering her name. "Charlotte," came the softest whisper from her lips.

* * *

Ilya came to a sudden stop, Sonya and Lydia discontinued their chant as the Mother creased her forehead as she tried to get a hold on what she was feeling. Walking around the circle, she passed Caroline who was lying outside of the circle to stand between Damon and Stefan. Holding her hands out, she once again called forth the goddess Hecate and asked for her guidance.

Wind began whipping across the room sending several objects flying, an old antique vase crashed into a wall and Ilya took hold of her mother's and daughter's hands. "He's here," she told them. "Silas is trying to call up his descendants; we must protect them," she cried.

"But the circle is closed. He can't cross it to take them and the boarding house is safe; he can't enter," Lydia reminded her mother.

"It's not the girls he wants," Sonya told her granddaughter. Lydia looked confusedly between her mother and Grandmama.

"He's here for the boys," Ilya said. "The Salvatore's."


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N:** back with a slightly longer chapter, as requested.

Silas watched as thunder rolled; dark clouds forming in the sky as heavy rains began to fall. Harnessing the power of the elements, he cast his spell.

* * *

"The Salvatore's," Lydia yelled, not believing her ears. "First of all, ew," she shuddered, "grossest case of incest ever! Secondly, why didn't you ever tell me," she turned, asking her grandmama Sonya.

"The Salvatore's are descendants of Silas; it's true," Sonya told her young granddaughter, "but not of Emiliyah. You see, Silas had been a charmer back in his day. Before he ever set eyes on Emiliyah he was known for his ability to woo the village ladies. One of them became pregnant but he denied fathering the child. She was shunned, and returned to Italy where the only thing she could do was to claim she had been widowed so her child would not be shunned as well."

"Why does he want them now?" Lydia glanced back towards her very distantly related cousins.

"Not them, necessarily. Just one," Ilya jumped in. "Stefan."

"Why Stefan?" Lydia just wanted them to get to the point of this all so they could go back to their plan.

"Have you ever seen Silas's true face," her mother asked her.

"No. No one has," she pointed out. "Silas can take anyone's appearance; it's no wonder he hasn't shown his true face because he has the perfect way to protect that kind of information."

"You see," Ilya continued, "Ayana was the descendant of Qetsiyah, Silas's best friend."

"I remember," Lydia said. "At first everyone believed that she was the one who came up with the immortality spell that Silas cast but it turned out it was just him."

"But as his best friend and a witch, Qetsiyah knew the spell which is how it was passed down to Ayana."

"Okay," Lydia said confused, "why are we talking about this when what we should be talking about what Silas wants with Stefan," she argued; frustrated with the recent turn of events.

"When Esther took the spell from Ayana, she learned of a consequence of the spell; a tool that sealed and could unseal the spell. A doppelganger of the sacrifice," she explained.

"Tatia's doppelganger, I know. And since she didn't want Klaus to be able to access his werewolf side and become a hybrid, the spell to undo the curse; sacrificing the doppelganger, a werewolf and a vampire, was meant to ensure that he would be unable to create more hybrids."

"And who do you think the sacrifice was in Silas's spell," her mother asked.

"But how? How could Silas sacrifice himself and perform the spell?" Lydia was perplexed.

"The spell Qetsiyah handed down through her line of witches to be safeguarded was changed from it's original form. She didn't dare destroy it because she knew the answer to unsealing the spell would be found in it, but she couldn't risk others cheating death so she altered it.

"By calling on a sacrifice," Ilya continued, "she knew most witches would never use the spell because it is against our one basic principle; and it harm none, do what ye will. Obviously, she didn't count on Esther and Mikael's pathological need to preserve their children."

"So Stefan is Silas's doppelganger. Why does Silas want him now," Lydia asked.

"Because Stefan exists as a loophole to Silas's spell; a version of the original that could die, except when Esther used his spell and created an entire race of vampires, Stefan was saved from death. Remember, as a doppelganger Stefan shares a part of Silas's soul."

"Apparently the part that loves Petrovas," Lydia replied sarcastically before coming to a realization. "We're lifting the curse on the Petrova doppelgangers," she whipped her head around to stare at her mother and grandmama. "But you two are doing more than that aren't you? You're going to lift the immortality spell and make Silas mortal, aren't you?"

"It's the only way to do the work Hecate has called upon us to do," Sonya explained to her granddaughter.

Just then the attic windows came crashing open, flooding the attic with water. In the circle, the witches and Petrova doppelgangers remained safe as the other vampires started to come to. Stefan was the first one to wake as Damon and Caroline slowly came to, groaning in pain.

Touching his lips, Stefan suddenly realized that the rain hitting his face was more than just water. "Blood," he cringed as the dark veins suddenly came to life underneath his eyes. The taste immediately triggered his addiction and as Lydia tried to call out to him the vampire sped out of the room.

* * *

Elena stood in front Charlotte, in awe of this turn of events. It was no longer the little girl that Elena had immediately come to think of as a little sister but an old woman with silver locks that hung all the way down her back. Dressed in plain cotton garbs, there was a simplistic beauty to her ancestor.

Reaching out a hand, Charlotte looked upon the image of her sister. She had spent centuries taking care of all of her sister's reincarnations on the other side and here was the last piece of the puzzle. The purest piece. Elena was the core of what Tatia had encompassed. Elena was her heart.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N:** sorry for not updating in so long. also sorry to say that it might be a while before I update again. I just started grad school and will have a lot less time on my hands with work and projects but I promise to keep working on this story. It will get finished..._eventually!_

* * *

"Brother," Damon called out before racing after Stefan's disappearing form. Searing pain radiated through his head and the older Salvatore dropped to the floor, head in his hands.

"Damon, Caroline," Lydia spoke and immediately called an end to her spell. "You need to wait."

"No, what we need to do is kick your ass," the prissy little blonde said, as if she were more than willing to do the job.

"As if you could," Lydia tossed her hair back over her shoulder, summoning the Petrova fire she possessed. "There are things you have to know. About what we're doing; why we're doing it," Lydia implored. "More importantly there are things you need to know about Silas...and Stefan."

* * *

"You have no idea how long I have waited for this moment," Charlotte finally spoke, smiling as tears came to her eyes and her gaze spread over the entire group of Petrova doppelgangers. "My sister, in all of her forms; the majestic, the fierce, the innocent and the cunning. You are all the missing pieces of my heart; the piece that belonged to her."

"Why are we here, Charlotte?"

"You already know the answer," the old woman replied kindly.

"I know what my mother said," Elena agreed. "To move on but to what? How," she begged. "We're not ready for it to be over yet."

"Are we ever ready," Amelia stepped forward. Unlike Elena, Amelia couldn't bring herself to fight against their current predicament. "I didn't know it was going to come to this; Katherine and Lydia failed to explain that part to me," bitterness took control of her voice. "But we're _here,_ and there's no way back."

Shaking her head, Elena took two steps back as her mind raced. "No. Lydia wouldn't have done this to us; she wouldn't kill us for no reason, or bring them back," her arm flew back to point to their predecessors. "There's a reason for all of this," Elena insisted. "And if this was all about us moving on then why did all of the doppelgangers need to be summoned?"

"I told Lydia you weren't as smart as you seemed," Kat murmured under her breath before finally meeting Elena's and Amelia's glares. "You know the answer you just refuse to see it; you're missing the bigger picture, Elena. You're not thinking, Elena. You need to _t__hink!_"

* * *

Klaus tried ramming the barrier again but found the witches magic continued to hold. That just angered him even more.

Growling, Klaus indulged in a grade A temper tantrum the likes of which could only be thrown by a power hungry supernatural hybrid with psychopathic tendencies.

"Are you done," Elijah rolled his eyes. Even though he couldn't see his brother the fact that he had to endure listening to him was enough to make him end his own life and take every vampire ever sired by his line with him.

Suddenly and before either of them had time to process it, the locks of their cells clanked open and the mystical barriers around them came down. Stefan Salvatore had freed them.

* * *

"That's impossible," Damon said as he and Caroline caught up to the latest revelation.

"It also makes sense as to why he has such a big problem with blood," Caroline theorized. "I mean, if he really is Silas's doppelgänger and they are two sides of the same soul then it's like poetic justice. A kind of way for punishing Silas's creations."

"Well, if Silas is the one who woke us," Damon was still pissed about the witch hitting them with her mojo, "then shouldn't we go after him before my little brother does something stupid like merging back with Original Idiot?"

"It's too late," Lydia said. "He's gone and he's released Klaus and Elijah, taking them with him. Silas's doing, no doubt. He'll need them to do his dirty work."

"Which is what, exactly," Caroline asked. "Undoing the veil and unleashing hell on earth or stopping you from whatever it is you're doing because you really haven't told us what it is you're up too."

* * *

"Oh, my God," Elena said as the pieces finally clicked. Her eyes locked with Katherine before sliding over all the other versions of herself.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N:** The final chapter of Part 2, short and sweet...Look for the final part of the trilogy coming soon!

* * *

Silas walked forward, coming face to face with his mirror image; Stefan. The part of himself he had sacrificed to live forever.

If only he had known what that had meant all those centuries ago.

If only he were capable of regretting the impulse to indulge that desire. Whatever good his soul had possessed had been poisoned, even the love he still felt for Emiliyah; though Silas was unable to see that for himself. His plan was simple. To be reunited with his soulmate.

Before that had meant dropping the veil and allowing his immortality to be taken from him so he could finally be with Emiliyah wherever she was. Now the plan was different, and Stefan Salvatore was going to help him make sure he would succeed.

* * *

Ilya came forward, prepared to do what her daughter could not. "Go," she commanded Caroline and Damon. "Find Stefan and do whatever it takes to keep him away from Silas. Whatever his plans are we can not let him succeed."

The vampires left before Lydia had a chance to stop them and she turned on her mother with anger in her eyes. "They won't be able to stop Silas and you know that," the witch yelled. "You just sent them to their deaths!"

"And they will die a hero's death," Ilya responded. "But we have things that still need to be done and you are letting your friendship tear you away from our true purpose here. You knew there would be casualties, Lydia. But what we are doing, what must be done, is more important than the lives of those you've come to know and care for. Hecate will see her work done and there is limited time to do it. It's important we complete our plans before Silas completes his, or all of this," Ilya pointed to the bodies of the eight unconscious doppelgangers, "will have been for nothing."

* * *

"Oh, my God," Elena finally understood. Irena, Katherine and the other doppelgangers all came forward until the stood in a circle facing each other. Looking up to Charlotte, Elena realized what Isobel had meant; there was more to their curse- the very curse that Lydia, Sonya and Ilya were supposed to be lifting.

"We're moving on," she repeated to herself, eyes closed and a tear running down her face. "Because you're putting the pieces of the puzzle back together. That's why they had to summon all of you; why they needed all of our blood."

Amelia gasped as she finally understood. "To lift the spell bound with the original Petrova," she cried, "they have to-"

"-Put her back together again. They're going to summon Tatia," Katherine finally shared her plans with them. "We'll be whole again."

* * *

"-blood of our blood, we summon thee," the witches finished their spell. Blinded by a sudden burst of lightening, the three generations of Charlotte's descendants looked up to see that their plan had worked. Before them stood Tatia Petrova, as young and beautiful as the day she had died.

"My sisters," she welcomed with a smile. "There is much more work to be done."


End file.
